A strong figurehead for the region combined with a coordinated push from companies to emphasise their worth to the UK economy will help the North East remain a pivotal part of the Northern Powerhouse agenda, a business breakfast at Hardwick Hall, Sedgefield, has been told.

Two years on from the introduction of the concept by chancellor George Osborne , the event - organised by The Journal and its sister paper on Teesside, The Gazette - brought together an expert panel to discuss perceptions so far and to look to the future.

In a poll of the audience, 27% said they now felt positively about the idea of the Northern Powerhouse, while 18% felt negatively and 55% were undecided.

When asked whether the region was in danger of being left out, however, 79% said they believed it was, 11% disagreed and 10% said they did not know.

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In response, Newcastle Gateshead Initiative chief executive Sarah Stewart said: “Manchester has just started talking about the North East and that’s because people there are thinking about the contribution of all the cities in the North.

“When you add those all together, the North does much more in terms of contribution to the UK economy.

“That’s an important reason why the Northern Powerhouse does need to include the North East.”

She added that politicians, business leaders and those in education must all become involved in the debate, helping shine a light on the region’s merits.

Chairman of the North East’s LEP innovation board, Roy Sandbach, said that so far the Northern Powerhouse was nothing more than an “opportunity for discussion”.

But he added: “We need to be big.

“We need to think big and we need to act big.

“We might not be the biggest part of it, but we need to be a part of it.”

The creation of a figurehead for the region would have a major role to play in this, he said - a view that resonated with the audience, 72% of whom supported the idea of an elected mayor.

“We have got to compete on the global stage,” Mr Sandbach said, adding that he saw potential for pan-Northern structures such as collaborative innovation and skills boards.

“It’s not entirely obvious to me the Northern Powerhouse would include the North East, but I hope it does,” he said.

Sarah Green of the CBI, meanwhile, stressed that the North East must not “feel threatened or like a victim” when it came to its place in the Northern Powerhouse, but should work collaboratively with the likes of Manchester and Leeds to create “more and better jobs”.

Zoe Lewis, principal and chief executive of Middlesbrough College, also emphasised the importance of the skills agenda in any discussion of the Northern Powerhouse.

“I’m not saying education doesn’t have a massive role to play and doesn’t need to change,” she said.

“It does. Education should and must get more closely aligned to industry and the jobs of the future.

“There’s no question about that, but at same time we need clarity about where those jobs are coming from.

“Education, skills and inward investment are all strongly linked.”

The event, which included insights from guest speaker Paul Swinney, principal economist from Centre for Cities, was sponsored by Tees Valley Unlimited, the North East Local Enterprise Partnership and DAC Beachcroft.

Other topics to be discussed included transport links and the impact of the EU referendum.